How well can your students
recognize sponsored content?
by John Bowen
Title
How well can your students recognize sponsored content?
Description — third in the sequence
Because of the rapid spread of sponsored content, students may have to decide whether to accept sponsored content in their student media. How well can they recognize it and what would they do once they recognize it?
Objectives
- Students will critique a piece of sponsored content and specify issues in the article that help identify it as sponsored.
- Students will demonstrate their knowledge of journalistic standards by suggesting changes in the article that could make it more acceptable.
- Students will defend their suggestions showing how they apply their ethical guidelines for sponsored content.
- Students will reexamine their student media advertising guideline.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.7 | Integrate and evaluate multiple sources of information presented in different media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively) as well as in words in order to address a question or solve a problem. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.SL.4 | Present information, findings, and supporting evidence such that listeners can follow the line of reasoning and the organization, development, and style are appropriate to task, purpose, and audience. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.5 | Develop and strengthen writing as needed by planning, revising, editing, rewriting, or trying a new approach. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.CCRA.W.8 | Gather relevant information from multiple print and digital sources, assess the credibility and accuracy of each source, and integrate the information while avoiding plagiarism. |
Length
50 minutes
Materials / resources
Blackboard or whiteboard
Teacher laptop and digital projector
Internet access
Evaluating information: The cornerstone of civic online reasoning
Slideshow on Skeptical Knowing
Lesson step-by-step
Step 1 — Warm-up (5 minutes)
Teacher should ask students to define sponsored content and to explain concerns about it.
Step 2 — Large group discussion (45 minutes)
The teacher will introduce the lesson by telling the students they are going to get a chance to identify, and then call for correction of, problematic issues. The teacher could also note the Stanford study that indicates students have a difficult time identifying fake news, sharing findings with students.
The teacher should make links to four sponsored content examples available. Students should then evaluate the articles and identify ways to make the story more acceptable. Students should read the articles, identify points that could be problematic and suggest journalistic corrections that could also be linked.
The articles can be found here:
http://www.healthcarefinancenews.com/sponsored or http://reviveusa.com/category/sponsored-news/ or http://www.eonline.com/news/sponsored or
Students should also be able to refer to the Slideshow on Skeptical Knowing (based on information by Bill Kovach and Tom Rosenstiel in Blur) to get insights to the type of information they were seeing and questions to ask about that information. We encourage teachers to purchase Blur for more complete context and a look at new approaches in journalism.
Students will be able to share their work with peers in class.
Students should then use this knowledge to revisit and possibly rewrite their advertising guideline.
Assessment
The teacher will critique each student’s evaluation based on a rubric of the sponsored content answer form.
Differentiation
Instead of completing a written evaluation, students may choose to do the assignment using a podcast or short video report.
Read More
News v. public relations
by Kristin Taylor
Title
News vs. Public Relations
Description
The community gets information about what is happening at school through different publications, but not all of these publications are journalistic. In this lesson, students will differentiate between student reporting and school public relations by comparing and contrasting student publications with school public relations content such as newsletters, school-created magazines or school websites created and maintained by adults in the community.
Objectives
- Students will be able to explain the difference between public relations and student reporting.
- Students will reflect on the purpose and importance of both types of content.
- Students will analyze how they can maintain a relationship while remaining independent from school public relations content-creators.
Common Core State Standards
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.C | Propel conversations by posing and responding to questions that relate the current discussion to broader themes or larger ideas; actively incorporate others into the discussion; and clarify, verify, or challenge ideas and conclusions. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.1.D
|
Respond thoughtfully to diverse perspectives, summarize points of agreement and disagreement, and, when warranted, qualify or justify their own views and understanding and make new connections in light of the evidence and reasoning presented. |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.RI.11-12.8
|
Delineate and evaluate the reasoning in seminal U.S. texts, including the application of constitutional principles and use of legal reasoning (e.g., in U.S. Supreme Court majority opinions and dissents) and the premises, purposes, and arguments in works of public advocacy (e.g., The Federalist, presidential addresses). |
| CCSS.ELA-LITERACY.SL.9-10.2
|
Integrate multiple sources of information presented in diverse media or formats (e.g., visually, quantitatively, orally) evaluating the credibility and accuracy of each source. |
Length
60 minutes
Materials / Resources
Whiteboard and markers
Teacher laptop and digital projector
Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics
School generated website, publication or other content
Lesson step-by-step
- Warm Up (5 minutes)
Written on the board: “What is the difference between public relations and journalism?” After taking some initial responses to the prompt, teacher asks, “If our school newspaper and yearbook are student-run journalism, who runs its public relations, and what forms does this PR take?” (The school may have formal or informal public relations publications content, such as newsletters, a school website, etc.)
- Teacher-led discussion (5 minutes)
Teacher reads a definition of public relations: “the professional maintenance of a favorable public image by a company or other organization or a famous person.”
Have students look at the “Be independent” section of the Society of Professional Journalists’ Code of Ethics (or their own, if they own it) and read through it. Ask, “How does this conflict with what you might do if you were a public relations professional?”
- Small group activity (15 minutes)
Teacher hands out a recent adult-created school publication or piece of content or has students access the school website’s news section. Students look through the content and consider what it has in common with their own student news publication (focus on the school, writing may be journalistic [depends on publication], may use infographics and strong images, shouldn’t include false information) and what might be different (no differentiation between news and opinion, no articles or photos that cast the school in a negative light, use of adjectives/adverbs or exclamation marks).
- Class Discussion (20 minutes)
Teacher draws a Venn diagram on the board with “School Public Relations” on one side and “Student Publication” on the other. The class fills in the circles to synthesize their conclusions about similarities and differences in small groups.
Discussion questions:
- What is the audience and purpose for public relations? Why is it important for a school to have a public relations team?
- What is the audience and purpose for scholastic journalism? Why is it important for a school to have a journalism program?
- Is journalism better than public relations? Worse? Just different?
- What should the student publication staff’s relationship be with the school’s publication relations staff? How can you remain independent? Should you ever collaborate with them?
- How does this give you insight into your own student publication policies to not use school staff’s photographs — even with permission — unless there is no other option?
- What would your response be if the school requests the use of student work created for your school publication? Do you have a policy in the staff manual for this situation?Assessment (15 minutes)
Students will go through a recent editing of a student publication and find two stories that probably wouldn’t be featured in school public relations publications and discuss why they are good journalism stories, but not good public relations stories. They can share these stories verbally or write about them.
Extension
Discuss how these same principles apply to professional media outlets as well. Can students identify when what they read takes a PR slant? What are the dangers of media outlets running a press release word for word
Read MoreIntroducing Tools of Truth package
focusing on preventing fake news
To introduce the SPRC’s new Tools of Truth package that examines approaches to cope with fake news, please go here for a sample lesson. The package consists of more than 20 lessons on dealing with fake news in four categories: censorship, satire, sloppy reporting and deceptive news.
This lesson on “How people interpret the news and why it matters” was developed by Maggie Cogar of Ashland University and JEA’s Ohio state director and is from the deceptive news category.
Cogar described the lesson as, “Why, and how, can two people be exposed to the exact same news story and interpret it differently? Why should this matter to journalists? People interpret the news differently depending on their cognitive schematic structure, or prior experiences. It’s important for journalists to understand this process so they can better understand how their
audiences are interpreting the content they produce, and so they can ultimately use that information to help shape their content.”
The entire package will become active by Aug. 30.
Read More